Watch: Josh Hazlewood ends Cheteshwar Pujara’s vigil at The Gabba
Australia gained an advantage early on the morning of the third day of the Brisbane Test when Josh Hazlewood ended Cheteshwar Pujara's 94-ball stay at the crease.
To get the better of Pujara’s stonewalling, you had better a ripper. Hazlewood has now produced two in back-to-back innings.
Pujara has been vulnerable to the ball outside off-stump throughout the series. And today was no different.
Into the 39th over on an overcast morning, Hazlewood angled the ball in and got it to straighten from back of a length on the off-stump. It took a thin outside edge, and Tim Paine happily did the rest.
As an injury-marred Indian side looks to topple the Brisbane hurdle, most of their hopes were pinned on Cheteshwar Pujara, the hero of the 2018-19 tour.
Cheteshwar Pujara's strike rate in the series
Cheteshwar Pujara is currently the fourth-highest run-getter in the Test series behind Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane. His 215 runs have come at an average of just over 30.
But his strike rate is 29.98, which has copped a lot of criticism. Pujara has played 717 balls in this series, only 111 less than Labuschagne, who has scored over 400 runs.
Cheteshwar Pujara’s wicket at Brisbane is Josh Hazlewood’s 12th wicket of the series, making him the joint second-highest wicket-taker in this Border-Gavaskar Trophy alongside Ravichandran Ashwin.
The extended morning session saw India add 99 runs while losing their overnight batters, Cheteshwar Pujara (25) and Ajinkya Rahane (37). At 174 for five, India still trail by 194 runs with Rishabh Pant and debutant Washington Sundar at the crease.